We've come down to the finalists in The Escapist's Reader's Choice Game of the Year. Two enter, but only one will make it. After being drastically behind Bioshock Infinite in Round 3, the indie game Papers, Please advanced to the final round, and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us narrowly beat Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag by 166 votes. Both of our finalists are worthy contenders and very different games, but it's up to you to decide which is crowned the community's game of the year.

Papers, Please is a "dystopian document thriller" in which the player acts as an immigration officer at a newly opened border checkpoint in the country Arstotzka. Recently out of a six-year war with a neighboring country, Arstotzka has a lot of rules for anyone seeking entry to the country. As the immigration officer, the player checks passports and either accepts or denies entry to Arstotzka while taking care of a family. Smugglers, spies, terrorists, political officials, and travelers are under the player's inspection.

The Last of Us is an action adventure, survival horror game traveling across a post-apocalyptic United States in the future. The player controls Joel, a survivor of a fungal pandemic, as he travels with Ellie, a 14-year-old girl who is capable of taking care of herself and loves to make jokes. Joel initially comes into contact with Ellie to escort her to a different quarantine zone, but the pair is changed forever on their trek across a post-pandemic country.

I think most of the actual readers here have already made their thoughts of this years Internet Choice awards quite clear, however i keep on wondering about a few things.

First of all, Who/what decides what games even enter this competition? Papers Please got chosen by the Pub Club if i'm not mistaken, but where did the other come from?

Second, maybe in the future it's better to make this Reader's choice, if it's still called that next year, big. Get some different categories in there. This would only help the fairness and competition because now, even if Game A won from Game B, these two games are in two completely different genres and appeal to different gamers, therefore impossible to compare and honestly tell which game is better.

First of all, Who/what decides what games even enter this competition?

If I'm not mistaken the top 15 was made by the Escapist Staff, or a part of it.Not sure if they based it on any sales or popularity / discussion here and on other sites though.There was an explanation how everything was done in mid November before the voting started.And as you said, the 16th place was voted by Club members.

On Topic:

I won't vote in this competition since there are two such different games and I've played neither.

Well, I sure hope Papers, Please wins. Of the games I played so far this year that actually released this year, it was by far my favorite. Besides, it's single-handedly already ruined my bracket this far. Might as well steal the winner as well.

Yeah, that went out the window a long time ago. Particularly when a Russian YouTuber got involved.

Pretty much, "Papers, Please" was trailing Xcom badly in the first around until this guy got his mass of youtubers to vote also when you consider that video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaLxIkhs104&hd=1 has close to 250k views. It's not surprising "Papers, Please" has made it to the end. I don't begrudge "Papers, Please" I just think this type of promotion outside of the Escapist community ruins the whole point of the vote. But that is just my opinion hopefully next year will have improvements.

Reading through that 14 page warzone had to be one of the best experiences of my life.

I did get a lot of enjoyment from The Last of Us, both multiplayer and single player. I also picked up Papers, Please as a result from this "incident" and I must say it didn't really impress. I only played for the first two levels, but nothing really drew me in.